Saturday, February 7, 2009

There is nothing like the Krispy Kreme Challenge. I recommend this to anyone who is looking for something fun, yet challenging. This is what makes racing fun. It was like a circus showing up to get my chip and number. People were dressed as everything you can imagine. I actually did a "practice" for this about 10 days in advance, running from my house (1.33 miles) to Krispy Kreme, eating 6 donuts and running back. This was at 7:00 pace and felt pretty good. Race day, I went out hard with all the college and high school runners in 5:50 (at the mile) and hit the 2 mile in 12:05. Then I realized the course "2 mile" distance was off and had another 1/4 mile to go before stuffing myself. I ate 1 donut, felt sick, then dipped the rest in water and made them mush. It took about 10 minutes to eat all of them and then I headed back at a more moderate clip. Watching the people heading towards the donuts as I was leaving made me feel bad for them (but good for me as the pain was over). I cruised back and was only passed by one group with about 3/4 mile to go. With about 1/4 to go, I passed them back as they looked like they had gotten "food poisoning." I got to about 100 yards to go and was about to kick past one more guy when my stomach rumbled and I quickly dialed it down for a "safe" finish. 6:09 pace there, 6:59 pace back. Not too bad. I hope to never do it again :)